It's been a while since I posted up anything. If you haven't seen my previous thread it's on the Tech: AE86 subforum: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=14755

For those who don't have the time to go through all of that. With the help from fellow club4ag members (especially jondee86), I got an AE86 that didn't run for 7 years, set up the after market ECU, did normal wear and tear items and got it running.

I'm starting this up mainly because I miss chatting with you all on the forum. I'm thinking about putting what I've done on the car since July in the upcoming posts.

I noticed my tailllights had spider cracks on them. Either because I stored them improperly or because I didn't notice it when I first got them second hand. Bought some new old stock parts from Ireland and swapped them in.

The performance of fake projector headlights that came with the car is appalling. I switched over to some sealed beam Halogens w/ smooth reflector and Fresnel lens and they were much better. But after driving in the dark a few more times, I thought I'd upgrade to 90s technology (HID w/ projectors).

I tried contacting a few retrofitters before attempting my own but, they were flaky.Looked at schematics of the housing and the projector and bulb and things are barely within the popup assembly. I decided to risk it and attempt to fix issues if things crop up.

The projectors had adapters for H4 bulb hole, but I couldn't use it because of space limitations.

Testing the system. I bought a 10A 12V power supply and hooked up all the electronics outside of the car for test.

To get the projector to fit into the housing, I slowly cut away at the reflector until I arrived at this size.

Here it is with the shroud.

Comparison of fake projectors vs real projectors. Notice that the lamp on the bottom left corner is actually dimmer on the HID picture meaning the HIDs actually output so much light that the camera's auto exposure kicked in.

After the paint shop had my car I noticed a few things rusted up due to the moisture. Got some bolts from the local ace hardware since they had quite a selection of stainless steel fasteners. They turned out great!

I had the T3 seat brackets and they work great for the most part. But I wished for something that has sliders so I got some second hand Planted seat brackets. Took a while getting them on since I was working alone but after it was much better after it all said and done.

Since my clutch and brake pedal were already the new style. I replaced the AE86 plastic/hard rubber pedal with the IS300 gas pedal. Hopefully it'd help me with my heel toeing. We'll see. Putting it on was quite the chore. You have to punch out the pin on both old and new pedal assembly. Then slide off the AE86 pedal off the pedal lever bar, do the same with the IS one. Then slowly push the IS pedal onto the AE86 lever bar. The IS pedal bar is smaller so it requires some force. Finally line up the holes for the pin and hammer it back in place.

Liking the clean mods, I remember the IS pedal giving me a bunch of crap too but it was well worth the headaches when it was all said and done! I haven't posted much since mine has been in the shop to get paint but following what you've been doing is keeping the motivation up! Keep the updates coming!

shagymc wrote:Liking the clean mods, I remember the IS pedal giving me a bunch of crap too but it was well worth the headaches when it was all said and done! I haven't posted much since mine has been in the shop to get paint but following what you've been doing is keeping the motivation up! Keep the updates coming!

Ahh cool you have it too? awesome, we're part of the cool club now

JDM20VAE101 wrote:Nice details man!I like that SW too!How much goes around that Pedals I like it for my build...

I saw these power window regulator from someone locally. They seemed pretty rare so I picked them up.What I didn't realize is the switches are also hard to find.

Ended up getting these 80s Celica GTS master / passenger switches. The Celica GTS master doesn't have auto down/up, but it does have a door lock switch. This also got me thinking about how to integratepower locks.

Tested it with my multimeter and some of the contacts weren't working. Took it all apart to spray with electrical contact cleaner.

They have these connectors which I couldn't find the other side for to build my own harness, they'll have to be replaced. (more on this later)

Here's the test. I hooked up my regulated power supply to a two relays controlled by the two switches (up and down) of the passenger switch. I read about how the contacts in the switches don't connect well over time and cause enough resistance to prevent the motor from getting the full voltage.

My design using four SPDT (5 pin) BOSCH-style relays.

Another issue was the plastic was really brittle. It was cracked already prior to the seller shipping it.

shagymc wrote:Where did you get the harnesses at and by what company? They look like top notch connectors and I need to do something like this for my door harness. Also, were they expensive?

What do you mean harness? I haven't worked on a harness yet. Do you mean the relay connectors? They were off Amazon.As for the connectors, they were from aliexpress (china). I searched up Denso connectors.The tools I bought from Amazon (had to do a lot of research before arriving at these)

By harness I mean connector, we called them harnesses in the car audio field. Either way I need to check them out. What specific tools did you need? I have crimpers and strippers, can't imagine needing much more than that. Great work!

shagymc wrote:By harness I mean connector, we called them harnesses in the car audio field. Either way I need to check them out. What specific tools did you need? I have crimpers and strippers, can't imagine needing much more than that. Great work!

Oh! I see what you're saying. I think harnesses actually include wires too. Like a completed wire, terminal, and connector is a harness.

http://www.sewsus.com/product_harness.html wrote:A wiring harness is an organized set of wires, terminals and connectors that run throughout the entire vehicle and relay information and electric power, thereby playing a critical role in “connecting” a variety of components.

Having crimpers that roll the side of the pin into the wire is pretty important for this type of pin. The usual ones for butt connectors don't work as well, but definitely still usable.